Wizard Of Oz: Significance Of Dorothys Journey Essay

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Significance of Dorothy’s Journey in the Wizard of Oz
Often times, people want more from their basic life. They may be unsatisfied with personal issues or simply unhappy and want to escape. But when we go searching for what we believe is “missing” in our lives, we later discover that we’ve lost sight of what is actually significant. This theme of gaining meaning in our lives can be portrayed in the movie The Wizard of Oz by Victor Felming, through the quest of the protagonist, Dorothy. Dorothy’s adventure aided her development of sanity and morality by helping her appreciate her family, giving her knowledge of her place in the world, and gave her the maturity and the courage her to believe in herself. Her long, frustrating quest was a growth to her personal integration and maturity, and helped her find meaning in her life.
In the beginning of the film, Dorothy’s dog, Toto, is being taken away. This is upsetting Dorothy greatly, and makes her extremely furious. Toto escapes and returns home, but Dorothy wants to run away because she thinks Toto will be taken away once again. She feels like no one appreciates her in her home, and she wants to escape from reality instead of coping with her issues. When she returns home after running away, a tornado approaches her town. This tornado symbolizes a tragic event that shakes her out of her place, and forces her to find herself through her own personal experience. After this occurrence, Dorothy ends up in a new world full of all good things, except for the evil witch that wants to capture her. All Dorothy can think of is how badly she wishes to go home. The characters are ambivalent because Dorothy knows straight away who is good and evil. She must go on a journey to find her way back home. Throughout the quest, Dorothy realizes how much she misses her family and wants to go home. She is worries and quite overwhelmed by the guilt she is experiencing for being unappreciative and defiant, and through this, she becomes a...